Family Photos: Memory bells

For the last few years, my mom has led a grief group for students at her school who have lost parents. Sometimes, she’ll come home and tell me about the lesson she did that week. Last week, she read the group the holiday classic The Polar Express and used the book as a launching pad to discuss grief. Sometimes, she told her students, we can start to feel like we’re forgetting the loved one we lost, as if they’re systematically being erased from our memory.

Well, enter these little bells. She had each student make one, and, as she explained, any time your loved one feels a million miles away, just ring the bell. It will remind you that they will always be with you in your heart. She also made one for Janelle and me, and it’s are such a nice reminder of my father and my grandfather. I keep my little bell by my bed, and it makes me smile every time I look at it. Thanks, Mom! xoxo